Ammonia will be the dominant carrier of molecules in the green hydrogen market of the future, according to Roeland Baan, CEO of solid-oxide electrolyser (SOEC) manufacturer Topsoe.

Green hydrogen can be delivered as a compressed gas, in liquid form, attached to a liquid organic hydrogen carrier molecule, as methanol or as ammonia.

Baan believes the last of these will come to represent the greatest share of the market.

“We see the green hydrogen market as a green ammonia market,” he tells Hydrogen Economist. “The flexibility of ammonia will make it the main carrier.”

Baan cites the desire of Japanese and South Korean firms to import ammonia to direct fire thermal power plants as a major driver for this.

A number of large green hydrogen production projects that have taken FIDs plan to ship offtake in the form of ammonia—including Saudi Arabia’s $5bn Neom project.

“We see the green hydrogen market as a green ammonia market” Baan, Topsoe

The existing market for ammonia products, and the fact a seaborne trade already exists, makes it a strong candidate for early adopters. But other firms and organisations say they believe other technologies will have a significant role to play—particularly liquid hydrogen.

Ammonia infrastructure would need to scale up dramatically if it were to handle the volumes of hydrogen foreseen in national strategies. But Baan says liquefied hydrogen is still a long way off. “There is no infrastructure currently,” he notes.

Staying on top

Green ammonia firm First Ammonia recently signed an agreement to buy 500MW of solid-oxide electrolysers from Topsoe to be installed at plants in Germany and the US.

The projects will be the world’s first commercial-scale green ammonia production facilities, with operation planned for 2025. First Ammonia will operate all its plants dynamically to support existing renewable power markets.

“Because of the intermittency of green power, you need a battery,” says Baan. “If you use ammonia as this battery you have a very flexible energy carrier.”

Solid-oxide cells are considered a nascent technology compared with the more established alkaline-electrolysis and proton-exchange-membrane (PEM) electrolysers. But they are particularly suited to the production of ammonia because waste heat from the ammonia production process can be used to perform high-temperature electrolysis, according to Sundus Cordelia Ramli, chief commercial officer for power-to-X at Topsoe.

“The process consumes less electricity than alkaline or PEM electrolysers,” she tells Hydrogen Economist. “The technology would similarly be well-suited to steelmaking, which also produces waste heat.”

Topsoe believes it is already capturing around 10pc of the electrolyser market and that this will grow as SOEC costs come down as the technology develops.

“We have a nicely identified path towards those efficiencies and cost reductions,” says Baan. “We know what the levers are, and it is a matter of working through those step by step. There is definitely enough room for all of the technologies out there.”

Looking west

The passing of the Inflation Reduction Act has made the US a key market for Topsoe, and the UK remains important because of its clean hydrogen contract for difference scheme.

The recent announcement of an EU hydrogen bank is significant, but the EU must still do more on policy, Baan says. “It needs to push further and catch up with the US and UK,” he warns.

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Author: Tom Young